There was also a rock ‘n’ roll aspect to his character. He played the drums in a band and had many associates in the music industry including John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd, and Boyzone’s Shane Lynch.
He founded a Formula 1 team out of nothing, built it to win races, and even in one heady year challenged for the championship. But he could not survive for long in the rarefied air at the summit of the sport, and the team sank even quicker than it rose.
Of course, when it was on its last legs and he sold it on, he made himself a fortune. He was always a canny businessman with an eye for a deal.
Perhaps that is what attracted the eye of Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s commercial boss throughout Jordan’s career. Ecclestone, a former second-hand car dealer, recognised a kindred spirit and was a kind of guardian angel at times as Jordan navigated the choppy waters of being a privateer team owner.
Jordan first encountered motor racing on Guernsey, where he spent the summer of 1970 when a banking strike in Dublin meant he could not work in his job as a clerk. On his return to Ireland, he bought a kart, and won the Irish championship at his first attempt in 1971.
He moved up into motor racing in 1974, first into Formula Ford and then Formula 3, only to suffer a nasty accident at Mallory Park in 1976 and badly break a leg.
In hospital, his hair fell out. On seeing this, his mother Eileen – by all accounts, a formidable woman – procured him a wig, and demanded he wear it.
He never appeared without one again. Although there was the odd time in the early days when future grand prix driver Gerhard Berger, a renowned practical joker, would sneak up behind Jordan with a high-pressure air line, and blow the hairpiece off his head.
Jordan resumed his career, but by 1979 he was struggling to find money to pursue it, and he turned to team ownership.
